It can be appreciated that the acquisition, transfer and use of digital data is on the rise. In automotive applications, for example, more and more operating conditions of the vehicle, as well as characteristics of occupants within the vehicle are being monitored on a continual or intermittent basis. For example, respective pressures within the carburetor and/or engine may be monitored as well as the weight and/or position of one or more occupants of the vehicle. Similarly, the temperature at one or more locations within the vehicle as well as the pressure and/or rotational speed of one or more tires on the vehicle may be monitored, among other things, by multiple sensors in the vehicle.
It can also be appreciated that the value and/or usefulness of such data is dependent upon the data's freshness and/or how quickly a processor and/or other type of data management component can access the data. For example, when the operator of a vehicle jams on the brakes to avoid a rear end collision, wheel speed and/or power train data may need to be available as quickly as possible to control an antiskid mechanism. The weight and/or location of a passenger may also need to be known to control airbag deployment, for example. Likewise, an engine pressure and/or fuel mixture may need to be known when the operator presses on the accelerator to pass another vehicle so that the vehicle's speed can be quickly but safely increased by adjusting the fuel mixture and/or flow rate, for example.
Accordingly, a technique that facilitates quick and efficient data transfers, particularly in automotive applications, to a component that can make use of that data would be desirable.
With various type of application, for example, automotive type applications, the proliferation of many, constantly changing clock signals can undesirably cause EMI issues and increase power consumption. Consequently, a technique to address such issues would be desirably as well.